I believe all of our politicians -- and probably all of us -- are overly thymotic.

All political leaders bristle with anger when our country isn't duly recognized as either the Republic of China or Taiwan. They are agreed that the sovereignty of our country is either somewhat tarnished or downright downgraded if we are not recognized as either of the two. That's the reason why nobody in Taiwan likes its compromised sobriquet of Chinese Taipei. Kuomintang (KMT) leaders reluctantly accept that name in order for Taiwan just to join world organizations or take part in international activities. Their opposition party counterparts, who went along with that compromise, now demand that Taiwan be the only name to be recognized across the world.

At least seven out of every ten people in Taiwan cheered for President Ma, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at San Salvador for a mere 24 seconds. They met by accident while both attending the inauguration of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes. Of course, they had to exchange greetings -- which alone took almost all precious 24 seconds -- because Ma had his wife by his side, who had to say a hello at the very least. Ma introduced himself as "President Ma of Taiwan." That doesn't sit well with our thymotic people. It's a slip of the tongue, they believe. They insist Ma should have said "President Ma from Taiwan."

Their thymos dictates the use of "from" to make clear Taiwan isn't the name of the country of which Ma is president. Thymotic people believe "President Ma of Taiwan" sounds like his being the head of state of the country known as Taiwan. They prefer that he introduced himself to Hillary Clinton -- though they certainly had met before -- as "President of the Republic of China." He couldn't have complied, because their beloved Republic of China has no diplomatic relations with the United States and he didn't dare embarrass her at an official function.

But our overly thymotic people were very happy President Ma was seated in the front row on the stage where Funes took the oath of office. They were glad Ma was prominently visible among heads of state from across the world, though mostly from Central and South America. They were almost elated to have learned Ma refused to meet his Nicaraguan opposite number at San Salvador after the latter had repeatedly tried to change their appointment. They are sure the Nicaraguan now knows the real worth of President Ma and the Republic of China.A majority of our people consider Ma's 10-day Central American tour a success. A minority regard it as a sheer waste of money. They are equally thymotic, however. The former are convinced that their president and his wife have shown the flag of their country in Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador, while the latter were disappointed the president failed to promote the cause of Taiwan.

To be honest, Ma's state visits to Central America are thymotic, like Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer under the name of Chinese Taipei. Taiwan's desire to join the WHA -- and the United Nations and its affiliated organizations, for that matter -- is a symptom of our collective thymos syndrome. We want, rightfully, to be recognized throughout the world as the Republic of China or Taiwan, if at all possible, or Chinese Taipei, if so required.

As a matter of fact, President Ma didn't have to go all the way to San Salvador to attend Funes' inauguration. President Chiang Ching-kuo never even tried to attend any presidential inaugurations of Taiwan's diplomatic allies. Chiang would send a special envoy to extend congratulations on his behalf, but he didn't lose any of our diplomatic friends in Central America.

Ma is following former President Chen Shui-bian's example. Chen was a frequent visitor to Southern Pacific, African and Central American capitals to win more lebensraum in the world community for Taiwan, which he calls its international space. He spent billions of dollars for his unfamiliar and erratic diplomatic sallies; and the net result was the loss of a diplomatic ally, Costa Rica. Unlike Chen, Ma wants a diplomatic truce with the People's Republic of China. If he really needs it, he had better give up any idea of costly overseas travel to satisfy the thymotic ego of the Republic of China on Taiwan.